Press Release
For Immediate Release
Civil society organisations from across Africa and Europe have released a joint statement responding to the official AU–EU Summit Declaration, urging leaders to address structural inequalities and centre people—not corporations or geopolitical interests—in the partnership.
The response follows the AU–EU Civil Society Parallel Summit held on 19 November, where movements, NGOs, churches, youth and feminist networks, labour unions, environmental coalitions, and community groups met to develop a shared agenda for equitable cooperation.
Civil society leaders welcome dialogue between Africa and Europe but warn that the official declaration prioritises investment, trade liberalisation, and infrastructure expansion while neglecting human rights, democratic participation, and community wellbeing. They raise concerns that the declaration:
• reinforces extractive economic structures that keep Africa dependent on raw commodity exports;
• sidelines small-scale food producers, workers, and communities in favour of corporate interests;
• lacks commitments to agroecology, food sovereignty, and ending hazardous pesticide exports to Africa;
• focuses on carbon markets rather than environmental justice and community-led climate resilience;
• frames migration through a security lens instead of protecting migrant rights and dignity;
• offers symbolic, not substantive, roles for civil society.
The joint civil society statement puts forward a people-centred vision for AU–EU cooperation, calling for protection of civic space, stronger decentralised governance, fair regional trade, transparent natural resource governance, meaningful inclusion of women and youth, and support for agroecology and farmer-managed seed systems.
It also outlines plans for coordinated African–European advocacy in 2026 on land rights, seed sovereignty, biodiversity, and pesticide justice.
Read the full Civil Society Statement Here
